Court of Appeal to reconsider £69m CMA fines on Pfizer and Flynn Pharma over excessive pricing of epilepsy drug phenytoin sodium

The Court of Appeal will reconsider whether to reinstate the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)'s fines on Pfizer and Flynn Pharma over the excessive pricing of phenytoin sodium capsules — an anti-epilepsy drug — following a sequence of appellate decisions that have kept the case unresolved for years. The CMA's original decision found that both companies abused their dominant market positions by raising the price of phenytoin sodium capsules by between 2,300% and 2,600% between 2012 and 2016. The CMA imposed fines totalling £69 million. On appeal, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) — the specialist tribunal that hears competition law appeals in the UK — initially set aside the CMA's decision. The CMA challenged that outcome, and the Court of Appeal has now accepted the case for reconsideration, having rejected the CAT's decision to set aside the CMA's ruling. In its most recent examination, the CAT had determined, in line with the CMA's original finding, that both companies had abused their dominant positions and imposed identical fines. The case is a landmark in UK competition law because it tests the legal standard for what constitutes excessive pricing by a dominant company, an area where UK and EU case law has long struggled to define clear, administrable thresholds. The decision will have significant implications for pharmaceutical pricing, regulated utilities, and any sector where dominance and pricing scrutiny intersect.

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